So I made a crock pot of split pea soup yesterday, or at least I tried. I did what I always do ... Chop one onion, 2 handfuls of baby carrots, and 1 ham steak, place in crock pot with one, one pound bag of rinsed, split green peas and 8 cups chicken stock. I set it on the 10 hour setting and left for work. Got home, the house smelled wonderful but when I went to stir it, I found the peas were still solid, little pieces! Normally, after 10 hours they are just mush when I stir it, just how we like it. I set it out in garage overnight (a balmy 33 degrees) and plugged it back in today to no avail. It's grainy and just tastes like overcooked ham.

If you were using split peas, I'm not sure what the problem was. Nothing in your recipe would have even caused beans to stay hard. The only thing I can suggest is to place the soup into a large sauce pan and gently boil for about 45 minutes. The peas should absorb water and soften. If your crock pot setting was incorrect (too low) then the peas wouldn't cook.

I always cook my pea soup on the stove top as it only takes about an hour, maybe a bit more from start to finish, and the peas are completely cooked. When I stir it, everything becomes homogeneous, except for the meat of course. And my soup is thick enough that I don't have to add roux as a binder.

Hope this helps.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

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Thank you for your quick responses! I actually always do it in the slow cooker. Sometimes I set it for 8 hours, other times 10. I am thinking I may have to stick with the 8 hours ... Although, it was bubbling pretty good when I got home and it still had an hour left. It's so perplexing. I make this at least once a month and have never had a problem.